Amber's father is missing. Upon her return home she finds a town in horror under the curse of ancient evil in Amber's Tales – The Isle of Dead Ships Platinum Edition, a mysterious and wicked hidden object adventure.

Amber's hometown of Port Bridge is being consumed by a strange, spreading sea salt that turns people to statues. Amber watches helplessly as the salt takes her mother. You must help Amber on her quest to find her father and save her family.

Uncover the mystery behind the salt curse when you try the free trial version or download the full-unlimited version of Amber's Tale – The Isle of Dead Ships Platinum Edition today! Better yet, purchase and download the full-unlimited version to enjoy exclusive content including bonus levels, amazing wallpapers, and an original soundtrack.

FIRST IMPRESSIONSExcellent intro with superb cinematic cut scenes and quality narration. I really liked how this game began. But from the start the story just doesn’t connect properly. Everything is just a little off somehow.

SIGHTS & SOUNDSThe graphics, particularly the cut scenes, are beautifully crafted and a delight to the eye, although perhaps a bit dark in places. There is plenty of life and colour, all the same, and the detail is good. HOP scenes are crystal clear, and surprisingly uncluttered. The voiceovers are good. The narrator’s at the beginning of the game is excellent. An attempt at lip sync works well enough. The music is nondescript. It’s not really music at all, just isolated, very gentle unobtrusive bars. I like it. The game could use some more distinctive ambient sounds.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?This is the game’s failing. While superficially, it is fairly straightforward, the story is a collection of disconnected parts that have at this time only the merest of hopes to be tied together. We are returning to our island home after an absence that has lasted since we were sent away to boarding school aged 5! Not for the usual reasons – dead and/or missing parents, but because the storms on the island made it unsafe to live there. But our parents continued to do so until your father’s recent disappearance. Now your mother wants you to come home. Now? When it is clearly MORE dangerous?

Then there is the story of your father’s previous adventures, the sole survivor of a ship that disappeared. The tugboat that brought in a deserted ship covered in salt. The salt that seems to be alive and taking over everything and everyone except you. The business with the magic shells. It’s all obviously connected somehow, but it is not until the very end of the demo that you get a glimpse of how that might be so.

GAMEPLAYThe game’s primary component is its adventure action. There is a lot of running around looking for lock parts, putting out fires, that sort of thing. All fun enough, but not integrated into the story. The puzzles are easy, says she who normally skips a lot, and there are a fair few of them too. Certainly more than the HOPs, which in the demo consist of one progressively interactive word list (find & use) and one standard interactive list, which is visited twice.

There is a journal I barely noticed, an interactive jump map that unfortunately only tells you where there is ‘something important’, i.e. unfinished objectives, not necessarily available for solving yet. The hint is directional, and often more help. We also have movie reels, done in the black and white silent style of newsreels of the time (1922). The inventory bar locks. There is (in the beta at least) NO choice of difficulty.

There is one unique feature, a collection of 4 magic shells, each of which gives you a special “water power”. So far, that has been the ability to evaporate water and the ability to freeze it.

CE BLING!There are extras, achievements and collectibles, not specified in the beta, but one collectible is 25 posters (beachside posters of the era).

COMBINED IMPACTWithout a choice of difficulty levels, this game cannot qualify as a CE. I would also like to see the story tightened up before I’d want to hand over my money. Again, ... I can’t recommend it if it is a CE, but it is a fine SE.

Oh geez. I just posted under the games, games, games category. This looks like a great game. I did the trial period at iWin, where they're offering it as a premium edition, which I'm not quite sure what that includes. I'm liking it though. Thank you for the Great review !!!!!

You're welcome. Premium editions usually include the same as collector's editions. But sometimes not as much. Like you might get the achievements and collectibles, but not the wallpaper, or vice verse. Still, usually it's about the same.

I have this theory. The reason we've been having more of these sorts of games with exclusive access at GH or iwin etc. and what seems to be a very late release at BFG, but the SE includes CE extras, is the BFG marketing department have cunningly worked at deal with the developers. Sure, early release goes to the other retailers, but there they charge CE prices for the same game that, if we are patient, we'll get a BFG for SE price...

Ahhhh. So that's what it is. (lightbulb goes on) I don't buy the premium ones because I can't use my game credits for them at iwin, even if I have more than 1 credit Go figure that one. I do like the game though and am looking forward to it in SE form.